I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Chapter 203: Chapter 199: Got a Lot of Vegetables

A short while later, Li You arrived outside Liu Jialiang’s courtyard.

Liu Jialiang was in a plot of land outside his courtyard, picking cucumbers.

”Uncle Jialiang, picking cucumbers for dinner?” Li You asked.

Liu Jialiang smiled. ”That’s right. I’m planning on making some stir-fried cucumber with pork slices. Are you just getting back from the shop? Or are you heading somewhere?”

Li You said, ”Just got back from the shop. I brought a braised chicken over for you guys.”

As he spoke, he got off his motorcycle, took a braised chicken from the storage box on the back rack, and handed it to Liu Jialiang.

Liu Jialiang waved his hands repeatedly. ”Xiaoyou, no, no. You should take this back for your parents to eat.”

Li You replied, ”Of course, they have one too. It’s just a braised chicken, not worth much.”

With that, he thrust the braised chicken into Liu Jialiang’s hands.

Then, while Liu Jialiang was still hesitating, Li You hopped back on his motorcycle and said, ”I’ll be on my way, then.”

Liu Jialiang quickly said, ”Wait, Xiaoyou, hold on. Let me pick some vegetables for you. Your restaurant can definitely use them anyway.”

Li You thought for a moment and didn’t refuse, smiling, ”Then just a few, don’t pick too many.”

Liu Jialiang nodded. ”Okay, okay.”

Just then, Liu Jialiang’s parents and his wife came out of the courtyard.

They had clearly heard the commotion outside.

The three of them invited Li You to come inside and sit for a while, and at the same time, they thanked him profusely for the braised chicken.

Li You declined, saying he wouldn’t come in to sit. His parents were waiting for him to come home for dinner.

After hearing this, Liu Jialiang’s parents and wife didn’t insist.

Afterward, all four family members went to the garden patch to pick vegetables for Li You.

Cucumbers, luffas, bitter melons, tomatoes, eggplants, chili peppers, and more—they picked everything.

Seeing this, Li You quickly said, ”That’s enough, that’s enough! It’s too much, way too much.”

Liu Jialiang’s father said, ”Xiaoyou, you run a restaurant, so you can definitely use all these vegetables. Our family can’t eat this much anyway. Take some more. Otherwise, what we can’t finish will just go bad and be wasted.”

In the end, the storage box on the back of Li You’s motorcycle was filled to the brim with all kinds of vegetables.

’Who would have thought that delivering one braised chicken would get me a whole basket full of vegetables in return.’

Li You thanked them repeatedly.

But Liu Jialiang’s family said they were the ones who should be thanking him.

Amidst their mutual thanks, Li You rode off on his motorcycle.

Not long after, he arrived at Li Zhong’s house.

The result was the same: he exchanged one braised chicken for a pile of vegetables.

The storage box couldn’t fit anymore. No problem. Li Zhong used a large nylon sack to bag all the vegetables together, then tied it on top of the storage box.

And so, Li You returned home, his motorcycle laden with vegetables.

When his parents saw him, they both asked why he had brought back so many vegetables.

Li You explained the situation.

So that was what happened.

After hearing the story, his parents both remarked on how overly polite the Liu Jialiang and Li Zhong families were.

”Oh, right,” Li You added. ”Uncle Zhanghong also gave me a lot of grapes.”

As he spoke, Li You took out the grapes Liu Zhanghong had given him from the storage box.

His parents saw them and both said, ”He gave you so many? His grapes ripened quite early.”

Li You nodded. ”They did. You guys should try some. They’re very sweet and delicious.”

His mom and dad each picked a grape and ate it.

After tasting them, they both said, ”They are very sweet. Tastier than our own grapes.”

Li You laughed. ”Well, his are Summer Black grapes. Ours are an old variety from way back. Of course they can’t compare.”

At the edge of Li You’s family courtyard stood two old grapevines, over ten years old.

Or rather, old grapevines.

Grapes are climbing plants that need to cling to other objects to grow upward.

So, strictly speaking, they aren’t ”trees.”

However, it wouldn’t be wrong to call the two grapevines at Li You’s house trees.

Their trunks had become so thick that the base was nearly 10 centimeters in diameter.

The entire vine was lush with branches and leaves, covering a large area and producing thousands of grape clusters every year.

The clusters themselves weren’t very large, and he didn’t know what variety they were, but they tasted quite good.

Although they couldn’t compare to the Summer Blacks, they were also very sweet.

This year’s yield was excellent again; dense clusters hung one after another, a delightful sight.

But for now, they were mostly still green and not yet ready to eat.

”Liu Zhanghong gave you so many grapes. You should give him something next time,” his dad said.

His mom agreed that he should.

Li You nodded. ”I was thinking the same thing. I’ll see what I can bring him next time I come back.”

His parents both nodded. That set their minds at ease.

Afterward, Li You carried the braised chicken into the kitchen.

’The braised chicken will be the main course for dinner tonight. I’ll just make some tomato and egg drop soup to go with it.’

They had tomatoes and eggs at home. Li You didn’t need to bring ingredients back.

Li You walked over to where the eggs were kept.

There were several dozen eggs again.

’I just took all the eggs last time, and now there are this many already.’

The family’s hens had been really productive lately.

’Five eggs should do it.’

’With the hens being so productive, there’s no need to worry about conserving eggs.’

’As for tomatoes, three should be enough.’

The vegetables from the Liu Jialiang and Li Zhong families had included tomatoes.

However, Li You didn’t use those. Instead, he went to his family’s own plot of land outside the courtyard and picked three large, red tomatoes.

’Now *this* is what you call the freshest ingredients.’

He lit the fire and heated the wok.

Soon, a steaming basin of tomato and egg drop soup was ready.

The braised chicken was also cut up.

Time to eat.

His parents couldn’t stop praising both the braised chicken and the tomato and egg drop soup. They both said they had never eaten such delicious braised chicken or tomato and egg drop soup in their lives.

At the same time, they were filled with happiness and pride. ’Our son’s cooking skills are probably on par with a Special Chef’s now, right?’

This was definitely something to be proud of.

At that very moment, the Liu Jialiang and Li Zhong families were also eating the braised chicken Li You had given them.

Both families were overjoyed as they ate. They hadn’t expected Xiaoyou’s braised chicken to be this delicious. It was so much better than the braised chicken sold elsewhere.

The more they ate, the happier they became.

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「The next morning.」

After getting up, Li You followed his usual routine, cooking three bowls of beef noodle soup for himself and his parents.

After they finished the noodles, Li You climbed the plum tree outside the courtyard to pick some plums.

They had already finished the plums he picked last time.

This time, he picked a full back-basket, about fifty-five pounds worth.

This much would be enough to last them for several days.

Since the Liu Jialiang and Li Zhong families had given him so many vegetables yesterday, he didn’t need to pick any from home this time.

Time to head to the restaurant.

It was Saturday again. There should be more customers than usual today.

’It’s bound to be a busy day, but it’s something to look forward to!’

After packing up the vegetables from the Liu Jialiang and Li Zhong families, along with the freshly picked plums, Li You set off on his motorcycle.

Twenty minutes later, he arrived at his shop in Jiulong Gorge.

While there was no one around, he placed all the vegetables and plums into the Storage Pavilion.

Da Bai and Xiaohai had already opened the shop.

”Morning, Boss!” Da Bai and Xiaohai said in unison.

Li You smiled. ”Morning to you too!”

He then walked into the kitchen and started making the braised chicken and braised chicken feet.

Both the braised chicken and the braised chicken feet were extremely popular.

Whenever he had time, Li You would try to make as much as possible.

In any case, he still had plenty of raw chicken and raw chicken feet.

Li You felt it was necessary to make another batch of braising liquid. That way, he could have two pots going at the same time, instantly doubling his efficiency.

’I’ll make another pot of braising liquid tonight.’

The last time he went to buy spices for the braising liquid recipe, he had intentionally bought a lot extra of each kind. Tonight, they would finally come in handy.

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